Palash Karmakar

Low serum selenium concentration is associated with preeclampsia in pregnant women from Bangladesh

OBJECTIVES Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy which is one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and pre-term delivery, especially in low and middle income countries. Selenium is an important constituent of selenoproteins that act as antioxidant and have several metabolic functions. The present study was conducted to determine serum selenium concentration in preeclampsia patients in order to find out the role of selenium in preeclampsia. METHODS This study was conducted as case-control study with 74 preeclampsia patients as cases whose gestation were ≥20 weeks (52 mild and 22 severe patients) and 118 normotensive pregnant women as controls from same gestational period. Detailed patient history was recorded during routine hospital visits. Serum selenium concentration was determined by using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Independent sample t-test and Pearsons correlation test were done for the statistical analysis using the statistical software package SPSS, version 16. RESULTS Our study found that mean serum concentration of selenium in preeclampsia patients was significantly lower than that of healthy pregnant women (p<0.05). Further analysis for selenium concentration with disease severity explored that selenium concentration was significantly lower in severe preeclampsia in comparison to mild preeclampsia (p<0.05). We found no significant difference for selenium concentration between rural and urban preeclampsia patients (p>0.05). Pearsons correlation analysis reveals significant negative correlation of selenium with systolic blood pressure (r=-0.419, p=0.001), diastolic blood pressure (r=-0.392, p=0.001), and gestational period (r=-0.218, p=0.001). CONCLUSION Our study found that preeclampsia patients have decreased serum selenium concentration than the healthy pregnant women.

Safety Evaluation of Chocolate Brown Dye in Swiss albino Mice

Objective: Chocolate Brown is a brown synthetic diazo dye which is mainly used in chocolate cakes and also in other food products. The present study was designed to evaluate toxic effects of chocolate brown dye considering the biochemical and pathological parameters of Swiss albino mice. Methods: The experimental animals were subdivided into 3 groups such as control, group 1 (received chocolate brown dye at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight) and group 2 (received chocolate brown dye at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight) containing 5 mice in each of the groups. Different group of mice were fed with normal diet for 25 days and their body weight was taken every day. At 26th day their blood serum and some organ was collected for conducting biochemical and pathological analysis. Results: During this study a remarkable increase in body weight was noticed in case of group 2 when compared to the control group. But surprisingly group 1 showed less increase in body weight than control group. This study showed that the weight of liver, heart and kidney was increased in case of group 2. While group 1 showed increased in heart weight but its kidney and liver weight was actually lower in comparison to the control group. Furthermore we have also found a significant raise in blood bilirubin level when dose increased from 200 mg/kg to 400 mg/kg. All the tests showed that chocolate brown dye is more poisonous at higher dose compared to lower one. Conclusion: Considering the inferential data on the physiological and biochemical parameters of mice the study recommends the withdrawal of the chocolate brown dye from the local market. People should be more concern about the hazardous effects of chocolate brown dye.

Assessing the Perceptions and Practice of Self-Medication among Bangladeshi Undergraduate Pharmacy Students

Objectives: To evaluate the perceptions and extent of practicing self-medication among undergraduate pharmacy students. Methods: This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted over a six month period (January to June 2016) among undergraduate pharmacy students in five reputable public universities of Bangladesh. It involved face-to-face interviews regarding self-medication of 250 respondents selected by simple random sampling. Results: Self-medication was reported by 88.0% of students. Antipyretics (58.40%) were mostly preferred for the treatment of fever and headaches. The major cause for self-medication was minor illness (59.60%, p = 0.73) while previous prescriptions were the main source of knowledge as well as the major factor (52.80%, p = 0.94) dominating the self-medication practice. The results also demonstrated 88.80% of students had previous knowledge on self-medication and 83.60% of students always checked the information on the label; mainly the expiry date before use (85.60%). A significant (p < 0.05) portion of the students (51% male and 43% female) perceived it was an acceptable practice as they considered self-medication to be a segment of self-care. Furthermore, students demonstrated differences in their response level towards the adverse effect of drugs, the health hazard by a higher dose of drug, a physician’s help in case of side effects, taking medicine without proper knowledge, and stopping selling medicine without prescription. Conclusions: Self-medication was commonly used among pharmacy students primarily for minor illnesses using over-the-counter medications. Although it is an inevitable practice for them it should be considered an important public health problem as this practice may increase the misuse or irrational use of medicines.

Elevated Serum Lipid Peroxidation and Reduced Vitamin C and Trace Element Concentrations Are Correlated With Epilepsy

Background. Epilepsy is one of the chronic and heterogeneous epidemic neurological disorders leading to substantial mortality. The aim of the present study was to investigate the serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), vitamin C, and trace elements namely zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) in epileptic patients of Bangladesh and to establish if there are any pathophysiological correlations. Methods. This was a case-control study with 40 generalized epileptic patients and 40 healthy subjects as controls. Epilepsy was determined by the presence of seizure events with an abnormal electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging report of brain. Results. Anthropometric parameters highlighted that age is a major risk factor of epilepsy and men are more prone to epilepsy than women. Blood serum analysis demonstrated significantly (P < .001) higher values of MDA and lower level of vitamin C in the patient group (4.41 ± 0.76 μmol/mL and 18.31 ± 0.84 μmol/L, respectively) compared with control (1.81 ± 0.70 μmol/mL and 29.72 ± 1.06 μmol/L, respectively). Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between the serum level of MDA and vitamin C for both patient (r = −0.023, P = .887) and control group (r = −0.142, P = .383). This study also revealed that the trace elements (Zn, Cu) were significantly (P < .05) lower in epileptics (68.32 ± 4.59 and 50.81 ± 2.54 μg/dL, respectively) where the level of Mn in patients (187.71 ± 9.04 μg/dL) was almost similar to that of the control group (P > .05). The univariate analysis demonstrated that zinc <70 μg/dL (odds ratio = 3.56, P < .05) and copper <50 μg/dL were associated (odds ratio = 14.73, P < .001) with an increased risk of epilepsy. Establishment of interelement relationship strongly supported that there was a disturbance in the element homeostasis of epileptic patients. Conclusions. The study results strengthen the role of lipid peroxidation, antioxidants and trace elements in the pathogenesis and warrant larger studies to investigate the association of these biochemical parameters with epilepsy.